A Letter from the "00" Bus to Hamtramck, Michigan

In Hamtramck, Michigan, a colossus of steel and concrete rises above the trash littered streets. This sprawling complex is a testament to modern manufacturing and is the home of American Axle and Manufacturing’s (AAM) Detroit Manufacturing Facility. This huge plant was established at the turn of the century and recently upgraded andmodernized. In these facilities, AAM manufactures products ranging from forging components and axle components to fullaxle assemblies. But, for the last seven weeks the machines have been stilled and production has been stopped.

On this same street within easy walking distance of out of shape foundry worker is a much smaller building whose contents are not the machines of industry, but the people that run them. This building is the home of UAW Local 235 which represents the 1900 active workers that have been on strike for the last seven weeks. The local represents both skilled trade and production workers and has been offering shelter from the less than perfect Detroit weather. On the day that UAW Local 211 members arrived to show their support and help out with picket duty, a cold misty rain was falling and the warm Michigan sun had decided not to make an appearance. A photo was quickly taken outside of the local union hall and we quickly made our way to the picket locations.

As our group fortified the number of strikers that were already on picket duty I began to talk to the Brothers and Sisters of UAW Local 235. They all echoed the same thoughts of anger and disbelief in their plant’s management. As I listened closer they painted a picture that was not to different from what many of us experience on a daily basis. One of them said that when he first started 14 years ago that they made about 950 axles with 7000 people and now they make closer to 9000 axles with less than 2000 of the same people. The same Brother went on to say that their cost per part is lower and their quality is better than any place else in the world. A Sister came up later and told me that sometimes proper lock-out procedures were discouraged to save on machine down-time and keep production numbers up. A skilled tradesman related a story that a supervisor told him that he expected his maintenance people to be like an ‘Indy pit crew’ and rush to a job with tools in hand and prepared to work and not worry about safety so much. The Brother went on to say that they are preached to about taking ‘ownership’ of certain pieces of machinery, but when they ask for stock to keep equipment running surprisingly it’s too expensive to keep on hand.

As the time came for us to leave our new found friends to the north and make our way back home, I had one more conversation with a Union Brother at their hall as we both struggled to warm up over a cup of coffee. He told me that his fourteen year old daughter had asked him earlier in the day if they were going to be homeless if the strike didn’t end soon. He told her of course not and that as long as there was others that were willing to help them on the picket lines and with their donations that she had nothing to worry about. It choked me up as he shook my hand and thanked me for coming up and walking the picket line with him. At that moment I knew that I did the right thing about coming up to help out on the picket lines and maybe someday I’ll be able to call myself a Union activist but for now I’ll just try to do my part.

Signed, Doug “Gator” Brinkman, UAW Local 211, Defiance, Ohio